The Office for National Statistics revealed that some 201,000 EU citizens immigrated to the UK in the year ending December 2013, a "statistically significant" rise on the158,000 the previous year.

Mr Farage said: “Waking up this morning I thought, 'What on earth do I do?'. I have been campaigning for months and I feel a bit vacant now.”

Asked about claims of racism in his party, he said: "I think the allegations of the political establishment are against us.

"Twenty minutes ago the immigration figures were out - 526,000 people settled in this country last year. It's just impossible. We cannot go on with numbers like that."

He added: "If our people are motivated, before the rain comes, to go and vote then I think we will get over the line."

Questioned on whether the European elections mattered, he said: "The answer is increasingly yes, they do matter, and people realise that Europe, whether you like it or not, is really, really important.

"This will be the highest election turnout since 1979."

Mr Farage, who has faced controversy over his party's claim that Romanian gangs were responsible for 7 per cent of crime in the EU, denied Ukip was racist and said: “I have never heard such rot in all my life.”

He added: "We have got standing for us in these local elections, I bet you, a broader array of people from global nationalities than any other party.